GAMES: GameSpot | GameFAQs MUSIC: Last.fm | MP3.com MOVIES: Metacritic | Movietome TV: TV.com
Home | About Metacritic | About Metascores | What's New | Wireless Versions | Discussion Forums | Advertising Inquiries | Contact Us | RSS
Metacritic.com: We Deal With Criticism
     Help
> Switch to Advanced Search  
Film Video/DVD Music Games TV

Music

Upcoming Release Calendar
All-Time High (And Low) Scores
Best Of 2008
Best Of 2007
Best Of 2006
Best Of 2005
Best Of 2004
Best Of 2003
Best Of 2002
Best Of 2001
Best Of 2000
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Music In Our Forums

 

Upcoming & Recent Releases

sort by name sort by score

64 A Camp
78 Akron/Family
73 Dave Alvin & the Guilty Women
74 Amazing Baby
62 Tori Amos
54 The Answer
74 Anti-Flag
74 Art Brut
71 Au Revoir Simone
65 Zee Avi
70 Bachelorette
77 Bat For Lashes
68 Big Business
76 Ryan Bingham & The Dead Horses
67 Black Dice
57 Black Eyed Peas
74 Black Moth Super Rainbow
71 Blank Dogs
65 Booker T.
54 The Boxmasters
65 The Boy Least Likely To
74 Brakes [aka brakesbrakesbrakes]
68 British Sea Power
66 Jeff Buckley
75 Busdriver
59 Busta Rhymes
64 Cage The Elephant
82 Bill Callahan
80 Camera Obscura
68 Cam'ron
79 Casiotone For The Painfully Alone
58 Chester French
82 The Church
61 Ciara
72 Clues
69 The Coathangers
74 Jarvis Cocker
90 Leonard Cohen
70 Elvis Costello
66 Graham Coxon
76 Crippled Black Phoenix
71 The Crocodiles
69 Cryptacize
71 Crystal Antlers
56 The Crystal Method
69 Dananananaykroyd
76 Danger Mouse And Sparklehorse
71 De La Soul
77 Death Cab For Cutie
68 Deer Tick
81 Deerhunter
70 Depeche Mode
78 Dinosaur Jr.
85 Dirty Projectors
86 DJ Quik & Kurupt
77 Doves
68 Dredg
76 Bob Dylan
82 Steve Earle
70 Eels
62 El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez Lopez
58 Eminem
60 Empire Of The Sun
54 The Enemy
67 Jeremy Enigk
68 Nathan Fake
85 The Felice Brothers
79 The Field
65 Fink
60 Fischerspooner
77 Flatlanders
62 Flo Rida
64 Franz Ferdinand
77 Gallows
72 Melody Gardot
59 Ginuwine
71 Golden Silvers
61 Gomez
69 Grand Duchy
73 Great Lake Swimmers
59 Great Northern
72 Green Day
86 Grizzly Bear
75 The Handsome Family
69 Ben Harper And Relentless7
75 PJ Harvey & John Parish
66 Heaven & Hell
85 Levon Helm
74 The Hold Steady
79 Patterson Hood
75 Jon Hopkins
82 The Horrors
69 Hanne Hukkelberg
74 Ida Maria
65 Immaculate Machine
75 The Intelligence
76 Iron & Wine
79 Isis
68 It Hugs Back
88 J Dilla aka Jay Dee
61 Jadakiss
86 Japandroids
61 Joan Of Arc
84 Joe Lovano Us Five
72 John Doe & The Sadies
70 Joker's Daughter
62 Jonas Brothers
53 Mike Jones
71 The Juan Maclean
76 Junior Boys
68 Kasabian
74 Diana Krall
56 Lady Sovereign
43 Ben Lee
68 The Lemonheads
76 Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard
77 Lindstrom & Prins Thomas
65 Little Boots
79 The Low Anthem
67 Jason Lytle
75 The Maccabees
76 Magik Markers
80 Major Lazer
70 Malajube
71 Manchester Orchestra
85 Manic Street Preachers
57 Marilyn Manson
66 The Mars Volta
68 Dave Matthews Band
62 Maximo Park
70 Meat Puppets
80 Method Man & Redman
77 Metric
75 Micachu & The Shapes
69 Chrisette Michele
76 Miike Snow
67 Mika Miko
75 Rhett Miller
49 Mims
72 Mr. Lif
72 Moby
78 Moderat
70 Mandy Moore
80 Mos Def
70 Bob Mould
74 Nadja
72 New York Dolls
72 Nite Jewel
67 NOFX
76 Noisettes
60 Paolo Nutini
67 Conor Oberst And The Mystic Valley Band
74 Papercuts
76 Passion Pit
74 Peaches
71 Pet Shop Boys
68 Peter Bjorn And John
82 Phoenix
76 Pink Mountaintops
63 Placebo
66 Pomegranates
64 Iggy Pop
67 Prefuse 73
81 Ramblin' Jack Elliott
76 Rancid
54 Rascal Flatts
68 Lionel Richie
77 Alasdair Roberts
73 Rick Ross
55 Asher Roth
72 Savath & Savalas
61 Polly Scattergood
65 The Shortwave Set
60 Shout Out Out Out Out
66 Silversun Pickups
85 Todd Snider
78 Sonic Youth
72 The Soundcarriers
61 The Sounds
74 Regina Spektor
63 Spinal Tap
65 Spinnerette
81 St. Vincent
59 Still Flyin'
58 Street Sweeper Social Club
87 Sunn O)))
82 Sunset Rubdown
84 Super Furry Animals
74 Richard Swift
78 Taking Back Sunday
85 Tanya Morgan
81 Otis Taylor
71 Telekinesis
70 Telepathe
80 Thee Oh Sees
79 The Thermals
74 Rob Thomas
64 Thunderheist
74 Tiga
57 Tinted Windows
72 Tortoise
82 Allen Toussaint
71 Trembling Bells
69 Two Fingers
84 UGK
68 Keith Urban
71 John Vanderslice
85 The Vaselines
74 The Veils
73 Viva Voce
63 Patrick Watson
79 White Denim
77 White Rabbits
57 The Whitest Boy Alive
74 Wilco
80 Wildbirds & Peacedrums
78 Wolves In The Throne Room
65 The Wooden Birds
67 Wooden Shjips
81 Yeah Yeah Yeahs
70 Pete Yorn
93 Neil Young
60 Neil Young
72 Yusuf

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

 



Printer-Friendly Version Email This Page Discuss In Our Forums

The Silver Lining
by Soul Asylum

Soul Asylum reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 55 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
8.2 out of 10
based on 12 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 11 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

The Dave Pirner-led band's first album in eight years includes tracks recorded with the group's late bassist Karl Mueller as well as The Replacements' Tommy Stinson (who, yes, served as a replacement).

LABEL: Sony
RELEASE DATE: 11 July 2006
DISCS: 1 disc
GENRE(S): Alternative, Rock

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

75
E! Online
The group sounds genuinely reinvigorated.
Read Full Review
70
Amazon.com
Sport[s] a trace more big league sparkle, but with the frayed cleverness and rock-solid musicianship that their fans know best.
Read Full Review
70
Spin
Sound[s] like a band that's discovered how to enjoy itself again. [Aug 2006, p.85]
70
Q Magazine
The sound of a band growing old comfortably. [Sep 2006, p.110]
60
Rolling Stone
For tuneful, middle-of-the-road rock, The Silver Lining ain't bad.
Read Full Review
60
Billboard
An old-school alternative rock album full of oversized riffs and open-hearted hooks.
Read Full Review
60
All Music Guide
The Silver Lining suggests that Soul Asylum might still have another great album in them (especially if Murphy does more of the songwriting), but this one certainly isn't it.
Read Full Review
58
Entertainment Weekly
The nostalgia train is stalled by embarrassing platitudes and well-worn riffs. [14 Jul 2006, p.79]
40
PopMatters
As bad as The Silver Lining is, a knee-jerk reaction would obscure some redeeming moments.
Read Full Review
40
Mojo
It finds the band stranded in the middle-of-the-road, spinning its wheels amid a mass of musical cliches and Dave Pirner's overwrought lyricism. [Aug 2006, p.104]
40
Uncut
The music... has become a too-clean version of their state's patented, tumbledown take on Stonesy power-pop. [Sep 2006, p.97]
30
Filter
Most of it just falls flat, neither recapturing the glory days nor squarely moving the band into a new era. [#21, p.102]

What Our Users Said

Vote Now! The average user rating for this album is 8.2 (out of 10) based on 11 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Mark G. gave it a2:
The user who mentioned Nickleback gave away more than they probably realise. The problem with The Silver Lining is how bog-standard it is throughout. Pirner's once sharp lyrics (Black Gold, Somebody To Shove, Cartoon) are now riddled with cliches and the music is criminally lacking in hooks and the frayed-at-the-edges rawness of the pre-A&M days. There's nothing wrong with a band growing more accomplished and polished with age but Soul Asylum have become a tired, uninspired MOR rock band, more similar to the aforementioned Nickleback than their former selves. When you consider that these guys were once mentioned in the same breath as The Replacements, Buffalo Tom and Husker Du, a lame effort like The Silver Lining is criminal. The last great song from a member of Soul Asylum was Dan Murphy's Ill-Fated with Golden Smog. On the strength of that song and what the band were once capable of, there is still a glimmer of hope for Soul Asylum.

Jakob K gave it a9:
Without a doubt, Soul Asylum know how to craft songs that stay with you. I remember hearing the tunes of "Runaway Train" all through my childhood, but only recently found out that they are so much more than one-hit wonders. It turns out "Runaway Train" was in no way a lone masterpiece; the songs on The Silver Lining have that very same emotion to them. With quality tracks such as "Lately," "Whatcha Need," and "Standing Water," it is a shame that radio and TV didn't pick this album up. The Silver Lining is an awesome album, and a memorable last effort if Soul Asylum would decide to go their separate ways after this.

Joey W gave it a9:
Great record....gets better every time I listen to it.

Estabon S gave it a9:
I have been a fan since their inception and I LOVE this album! It captures America's early 21st century angst like a very groovy and touching snapshot. The beautiful sublety of the themes lie in the fact that everything is 'laid between the lines'; i.e. the hauntingly evocative "Standing Water" which brought me to tears (I grew up 40 miles from New Orleans and still can't get over the fact that MOST of the city looks quite a lot like Fallujah to this day). The 'pro' critics must NOT be used to listening to music versus merely 'hearing' the music! The Great Exaggerator would make a hell of a campaign song for anyone who is NOT up George Bush's wazoo..... Buy it, You'll like it! Mr. Estabon My name is Bon and I approve of this posting!

Doug R gave it a9:
While not as undeniably brilliant as anything pre-their last masterpiece ("Let Your Dim Light Shine") I haven't been able to stop listening to this record. Even the few songs which are admittedly lyrically lacking or somewhat sappy are still catchy as all hell and this album does what their last one ("Candy from a Stranger") just plain never did: rocks your ass. Standout tracks like "Oxygen", "Bus Named Desire", "Standing Water", "All is Well" and "Slowly Rising/ Fearless Leader" are all instant classics and anyone of them would fit perfectly on "Made to be Broken" or "Hang Time" or whatever your favorite early SA album may be. RIP Karl.

Sonia C gave it a10:
Great CD!!!!! is goog to have them back.

Sher V gave it a9:
So happy to have them back, and this is a great listen!

Read more user comments...

Discuss this album in our forums

Return to top of page
Home | FILM | DVD/VIDEO | MUSIC | GAMES | TV | Forums | About Metacritic metacritic.com

Popular on CBS sites: iPhone 3G | Fantasy Football | Moneywatch | Antivirus Software | Recipes | E3 2009

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use